All Posts by Alex Dobie

The name was revealed on Samsung's official list of Jelly Bean-upgradable devices, and today brings more news of the curious little smartphone known as the Samsung Galaxy Music. Fresh details have emerged today via Austrian site Telecom-Presse, revealing a phone with humble specs and a distinctive front face.
The device, which seems to be an entry-level smartphone focused on -- you guessed it...

Right on cue, mobile game developer Rovio has released Bad Piggies, the swine-centric Angry Birds spin-off, on Google Play and other platforms. The game is available now as a free download from Google's app store, and comes in regular and HD (tablet-optimized) flavors.
Bad Piggies sees players take on the role of the mischievous green pigs from Angry Birds, building all manner of precarious...

Sony's Xperia T launched at independent online retailers in the UK earlier this week, and today it's available in store, as well as directly through mobile networks Three and O2. If you're after a Pay As You Go deal, Three offers the T for £399 when purchased with a PAYG top-up, while O2's price is set at £429.99 -- both prices are in line with what we've heard of the unlocked, SIM-free version...

Arguably the most interesting Android device to appear at last month's IFA 2012 show in Berlin was the Samsung Galaxy Camera. As the name suggests, it's an Android 4.1-based 16MP point-and-shoot camera with a bunch of sharing and content creation goodies from Samsung, as well as 3G and 4G connectivity.
Today we have the first tentative UK pricing and release information for the device, courtesy...

Samsung has announced the South Korean launch of its new 5.5-inch smartphone, the Galaxy Note 2. By now we're all familiar with the Note 2's impressive spec sheet -- a 1.6GHz quad-core Exynos CPU, 2GB of RAM, 5.5-inch 720p non-PenTile HD SuperAMOLED display, 4G LTE connectivity. Today the device launches across all three main South Korean carriers -- SKT, LG U+ and KT, where it'll be available...

T-Mobile USA's HTC One S is receiving its biggest software update yet today, bringing the aluminum-clad handset up to Android 4.0.4 (from 4.0.3) and HTC Sense 4.1 (from 4.0), according to reports from the Android Central forums. It looks like Tmo's One S is getting the update that was originally pushed to European One S phones just over a month ago, meaning owners can look forward to...

With the Jelly Bean update hitting some international Galaxy S3 (GT-i9300) phones, Samsung has released its Android 4.1 kernel source, and other open-source bits for the device. The code isn't directly useful to regular Galaxy S3 owners, but it should help community developers get more stable custom ROMs for the device. That means better ROM options for everyone, which can only be a good thing....

Google has announced that its Google Play app store has delivered its 25 billionth app download, up from the 20 billion figure quoted at Google I/O in June. To celebrate, it's launching another app sale, where this time you'll be able to pick up a selection of popular titles from developers like Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, runtastic and Full Fat for just 25 cents over the next five days....

Update, 7:40am EDT: Samsung tells us it's "currently in the process of conducting an internal review" into the situation with on the Galaxy S2 and other affected phones. Our own testing, and reports from readers, suggests that devices like the Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note remain vulnerable to the USSD exploit.
Original story: Yesterday we reported on a particularly nasty security vulnerability in...

If you're anything like us, you'll have plenty of wall chargers left over from devices you've long since parted company with. Observe above, the battered husk of our two and a half year-old HTC Desire charger, still in service today. Knowing that many older chargers are still in use, O2 UK and HTC have decided to take a radical step to cut down on waste, and presumably save a bit of cash at the...

As Sony prepares to launch the Xperia T in the UK this week, eyes are already on the T's quirky sibling, the Xperia V. Unveiled alongside the Xperia T at IFA last month, the V boasts water resistance and LTE connectivity, in addition to similar internals to the Sony flagship. The screen's been shrunk down to a 4.3-inch panel, although the resolution remains the same, at 1280x720.
Today a Swedish...

A quick way to tell if your Samsung phone is at risk, and what to do if it is
There's a lot of confusion as to exactly which Samsung phones are affected by today's big scary USSD vulnerability, which could cause some phones to factory reset themselves upon visiting a malicious web page. Some Galaxy S2 and S3-class phones are susceptible, others less so. In some cases it depends if you're...

Update, 09/26: Samsung has told us that the latest Galaxy S3 firmware fixes this exploit. Our own testing has shown other phones, particularly Galaxy S2 models, may still be at risk, however. If you're still concerned, you can check our USSD vulnerability test to see if your phone is vulnerable.
A major security vulnerability has been discovered in some TouchWiz-based Samsung smartphones,...

Samsung has announced that its latest smartphone/tablet hybrid, the Galaxy Note 2, will land on British shores next Monday, Oct. 1. Like the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 before it, the Note 2 will be available first at the Samsung brand store at the Westfield shopping center in Stratford, London, as well as major UK networks, and independent retailers. That roughly fits with what we were...

The Internet's in a bit of a tizzy this morning over reports from a Korean news that Samsung has begun development of its own WebKit-based mobile browser, to be used in future smartphones. ETNews reports that Samsung's browser will be offered as an alternative to Google Chrome on mobile. WebKit, of course, is the open-source software at the core of many mobile and desktop browsers, including...

New color launches in South Korea, as sales figures suggest six percent of the country's population now own a Galaxy S3
It was leaked last week, but now it's official -- the Samsung Galaxy S3 will be launching in South Korea in a new "Martian pink" color. Currently, Samsung plans to make available just 100,000 of the pink S3s across South Korea's three main mobile operators.
On its official...

UK SIM-free pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 emerged some time ago, but if you're still wondering much it'll set you back on-contract, then wonder no more. The answer, it seems, is a lot. Independent UK retailer Phones4U has published its subsidized prices for the Note 2, which it's offering on Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange. But if you want to pick up a Galaxy Note 2 for free, you'll be...

Sony has released more smartphones than ever before 2012, hoping that strength in numbers will help it overcome Android competition from the likes of Samsung and HTC. One important, but often overlooked area of any manufacturer’s line-up is the entry level -- it’s these devices which attract first-time smartphone users, giving them their first taste of the Android platform. We’re taking a look...

A little ahead of schedule, Sony’s new international flagship, the Xperia T, is now available in the UK. Phones4U and the Carphone Warehouse are offering the device on-contract through their respective websites. Both retailers are selling the Xperia T with O2, Vodafone and Orange contracts, starting at £26 per month. That’ll get you 200 minutes, unlimited texts and 750MB of data on Orange...